2nd Grade

The Arts provide an opportunity for students to explore ideas and express thoughts and emotions. Over their time in the Beginning and Lower School, they develop skills in music, woodshop, and visual arts. 

In the Woodshop, students develop general shop and safety skills with hammers, saws, and drills. They practice proper ergonomic use of hand tools including body position, alignment to work, and repetitive body logistics. Students engage in group and independent projects attending to planning, material selection, step by step sequencing of construction, artistic finishing, and clean up practices. 

First through fifth graders visit the Art Barn to explore the visual arts. Inspired by other artists, the outdoors, and their own imagination,  they engage across mediums including drawing, painting, and building with clay, sewing, and collage. 

Based in the Orff music education tradition, music  provides time for students to express themselves through sounds and movement. Inspired by artists across cultures and by their own musicality, students have the opportunity to practice both ensemble and individual musical skills. They learn concepts of rhythm, tone and pitch by  playing instruments such as the xylophone, glockenspiel, and marimba.

As readers, second graders have a repertoire of comprehension strategies to access deeper levels of meaning in fiction and non-fiction books and become confident using tools to navigate the writing process with increased independence. The development of decoding and comprehension skills is closely monitored and intervention provided for students who need additional support. 

Reading

After fundamental deep learning in first grade, second graders focus on reading comprehension. The emphasis is on comprehension strategies, such as making connections, questioning, visualizing, inferring, determining importance, and synthesizing. They improve their understanding by practicing fluency skills including pacing, phrasing, and intonation. They become more reflective readers by reading across a variety of genres and setting their own literacy goals.

Second graders learn to read nonfiction books and how to find the information they need, including how to use a table of contents, captions, a glossary, index, and other features of nonfiction texts. During Literacy Workshop, students participate in read-alouds, shared reading, and practice reading independently. They develop specific strategies in guided reading groups, which are composed of four to eight children reading at a similar level. 

Writing

Second graders write every day. They learn how to write from their own imaginations and experiences, and write in several genres including personal narrative, poetry, and nonfiction. During each genre study, they learn the conventions and strategies specific to the genre, study mentor books for inspiration, and learn how their favorite authors write. This enforces the connection between reading and writing. Students generate writing ideas, plan stories, create drafts, revise, edit, and publish. 

Word Study

Phonetic spellers (those who understand that letters relate to sound) and transitional spellers (those who experiment with spelling patterns) begin to use conventional spelling and learn to identify misspelled words in their writing. The Words Their Way study program is integrated into the literacy curriculum, with customized word study activities that fit the needs of each child. Rather than memorizing a list of unrelated words, word study teaches the patterns of English language; the curriculum spirals and builds as students develop.

Second graders become flexible mathematicians. Their conceptual understanding of numbers stretches into the triple digits, and they become capable of mathematical reasoning, using addition and subtraction to solve real-world problems. Multiple strategies are modeled and used so that students are able to connect with what makes the most sense to the problem being solved. Students strengthen their math communication skills to share their ideas and understand and build on their peers' ideas. 

• Addition and Subtraction up to 1000, using multiple strategies
• Ways to Represent Data
• Making Equal Groups, Even and Odd Numbers
• Measurement, Time, Halves and Quarters and Thirds, and Solid Shapes

First through fifth grade students study either Mandarin Chinese or Spanish. During their time in the Beginning and Lower School they acquire cultural understanding and build a foundation for language acquisition and fluency. Students are immersed in situations where they develop language skills by drawing on their own experiences to engage in conversations with the teacher and peers. Through movement, song, play, art, conversation, and oral and written activities they begin to learn to listen, speak, read and write in their studied language.

In science, students participate in ongoing inquiry cycles, where they are presented with a provocation to spark their curiosity, immerse themselves in a topic, investigate by learning new information, and share their thinking in multiple ways. They engage in studies of physical science, life science, earth and space science, and engineering and technology.

• How is being a scientist part of my identity? 
• How do our brains work? How can we improve our executive function skills?
• How are materials similar and different from one another and how do the properties of the materials relate to their use? 
• What processes shape the Earth? 
• What makes a habitat? How are the parts of a habitat interconnected?
   

Sense of Place

A sense of place in the Pacific Northwest forests is the curricular thread that runs through the year. Second graders also study social justice and fairness, and learn how to balance personal needs with the needs of others.

In wooded areas on campus and on field trips to nearby forests, students are prompted to consider what it means to be connected to a place and what makes them feel that connection.
Through outdoor education, place-based experiential learning, and a multi-disciplinary approach, students increase their sense of stewardship. They develop questions about the forest that they can research through observation.

Responsible Action

As the year progresses, the focus turns to responsible action and the ways students can make their community a better place. They discuss the meaning of fairness, and why they and others deserve access to the things they need to thrive. Students are encouraged to adopt an action-oriented mindset; they are asked to consider what contribution they can make to help their community.

Return to the Forest

In the spring, students return to the forest theme, focusing on ways they can leave places better than they found them. They learn about the forest from a historical perspective, studying the First Nations who lived in the area and modern First Nation environmental activism. Students end the year with independent forest service projects and by reading forest-focused non-fiction books.

Students engage in wellness classes in the Mini Gym, on the track, and across outdoor spaces on campus. Our holistic approach to Wellness helps children develop habits for healthy living that will last across their lives. Children develop skills across four domains:

Physical

• Moving body is various ways; developing gross motor skills
• Understanding what helps a body perform well

Mental 

• Noticing what causes emotions and stress
• Developing a toolbelt of strategies to regulate emotions and stress

Intellectual

• Trying new activities
• Using strategies in games
• Reflecting on progress

Social

• Working with others in productive ways
• Being a good sport
• Showing appreciation for others